Tuesday, March 31, 2009

How Sen. John Kerry made this asinine connection is unclear. Sen. Kerry made the call for an import ban while part of a Congressional panel conducting hearings in El Paso on Monday. According to chron.com, Kerry is shocked to see killings and beheadings "just a stone's throw across the Rio Grande from where we're sitting this morning." He did not explain how banning weapons importing will prevent killings and beheadings in the U.S.

Sen. Kerry makes push for tighter gun control

EL PASO — The United States does not need to send troops to the border in response to Mexico's drug war, nor is Mexico in danger of becoming a failed state, law enforcement officials told a congressional panel.

Witnesses testifying before members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in El Paso on Monday urged the lawmakers to bolster law enforcement in the region, increase aid to Mexico and push it to reform institutions whose weaknesses have been exposed by their struggle with drug-trafficking gangs.

At Monday's hearing, committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he had been shocked to see killings and beheadings "just a stone's throw across the Rio Grande from where we're sitting this morning."

Across the border, thousands of Mexican soldiers patrol Ciudad Juarez, which saw about 2,000 murders in 14 months.

Kerry called for a ban on the imports of assault rifles, such as the AK-47, into the United States. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., opposed the idea. (excerpt) read more at chron.com